The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-08-10

THE HAMPTONs, Aug. THE Rev. 7.
De Witt Talmage's sermon for today was
on the important subject of life and
Fire Insurance: the Christian Principles
Involved. His text was: LET him APP
point officers over the land and take up
the fifth part Of the land Of Egypt in the
seven plenteous years. ''-Genesis XII, "a
These were the words Of Joseph the
president Of the first life insurance com
pany that the world ever saw. Pharaoh
had a dream that distracted him. He
thought he stood on the banks Of the
river Nile and saw coming out of the
river seven fat. sleek, glossy cows, and
they BEGAN TO browse in the thick grass.
Nothing frightful about that But after
them. coming out of the same river, he
saw seven cows that were gaunt and
starved, and the worst looking cows that
had ever been seen in the land, and in
the ferocity Of hunger they devoured
their seven fat predecessors. Pharaoh,
the king sent for Joseph TO decipher
these midnight hierOglyphics. Joseph
made short work of it, and intimated the
seven fat cows that came out Of the river
are seven years with plenty to eat, the
seven emaciated cows that followed
ing TO eat. Now" said Joseph,
slet us take one-fifth of the corn crop
of the seven prosperous years and keep it
rs provision for the seven years in
which there shall be no corn crop" The
king took the counsel and appointed
Joseph because of his integrity and
public spiritedness, as the president of
the undertaking. The farmers paid one
ffffI Of tHafr income a. In,
all the towns and cities Of the land there
were branch houses. This great Egyp-
tan life insurance company had millions
Of dollars as assets. After while the
dark days came and the whole nation
would have starved if it had not been for
the provision they had made for the
future. But now these suffering families
had nothing 70 do but 20 up and collect
the amount Of their life policies. The
Bible puts it in one short phrase: ''In all
the land of Egypt there was bread"
say this was the first life insurance COM
pany. 1t was divinely organized 1t
had in it all the advantages of the whole
life plan, Of the ''tontine plan," of the
the reserved endowment plan" and all
the other good plans. We are told that
Rev. DR.. Anhate, of Lincolnshire, Eng
land, originated the first life insurance
company in 1893. No! it is as old as the
corn cribs of Egypt; and God himself
was the author and originator. If that
were not so | would not take your time
and mine in Sabbath discussion of this
subject. | feel it is a theme vital, reli-
gious and of infinite import, the morals
of life and fire insurance.
About ten or twelve years ago there
was great panic in life insurance which
did good Under the storm the untrust-
worthy and bogus institutions were scat
tered, while the genuine were tested and
firmly established, and where does the
life insurance institution stand today?
What amount Of comfort, of education,
of moral and spiritual advantage is repre-
scented in the simple statistic that in this
country the life insurance companies in
one year paid So, coo, 900 to the families
Of the bereft, and in five years they paid
$500, 600, 600 to the families of the be
rcft, and are promising to pay-and hold
themselves in readiness to pay-$2, 000,-
GEO 600 to the families of the bereft!
They have actually paid out more in
dividends and death claims than they
have ever received in premiums. ] know
of what ] speak The life insurance
companies Of this country paid more than
$1,000, 900 of taxes to the government in
five years. So, instead of these COM
panies being indebted TO the land, the
land is indebted to them. To cry out
against life insurance because here and
there one company has behaved badly is
as absurd as it would be for q man to
burn down 1000 acres of harvest field
in order 10 kill the moles and potato bugs
as prcposterous as a man who should
blow up a crowded steamer in mid-Atlan-
tic for the purpose of destroying the
barnacles on the bottom of the hulk
But what does the Bible say in regard
to this subject? If the Bible favors the
institution. | win favor it; if the Bible
denounces it, | will denounce it. In adj
dition to the forecast of Joseph in the
text, ] call TO your attention Paul's COM
parison. Here is one man who, through
neglect, fails to support his family while
he lives, or after he dies. Here is another
man. who ahhors the Scriptures, and re-
jects God Which of these men is the
worse? Well, you say, the latter, Paul
SAYS the former. Paul says that q man
who neglects to care for his household is
more obnoxious than man who rejects
the Scriptures: He that provideth not
for his own; and especially those of hi;
own household, is worse than an infidel. y
Life insurance companies help most of Us
to provide for our families after we arc
gone; but, il we have the money to pay
the premiums and do not pay them, we
have no right to expect mercy at the hand
of God in the Judgment We are worse
than Tom Paine, worse than Voltaire, ana
worse than Shaftesbury. The Bible de
Clares tive are worse than an infidel
After the certificate of death has beer
made ont. and thirty or sixty days have
passed. and the officer of a life insurance
company comes into the bereft house
hold. and pays down the hard cash on al
insurance policy, that officer of the com
pany is performing positively religious
rite, according to the Apostle James, VIII,
says: True religion and undefiled be
fore God and the Father is this: To visi
the fatherless and the widow in their af
fiction" and so on. The religion O
Christ proposes to take care of the tenn
poral wants of the people as well as thu
spiritual When Hezekiah was dyin!
the injunction came TO him: "Set tn,
house i'll order, for thou shalt die and no
live That Injunction in our day woult
mean: "AIake your will; settle up you
accounts; make things plain; don't de
ceive your heirs with rolls of worthless
mining stock don't deceive them will
deeds for western lands that will neve
yield any crop but chills and fever
don't leave for them notes that have beer
outlawed, and second mortgages on prop
erty that viii not pay the first "Set
thy house in order That is, fix W
things, so your going out of the worlC
may make rs little CONSERVATION as pos
sible. See the lean cattle devouring tho
fat cattle, and in the time of plenty pre-
pare for the time of want. The difficulty
is, when men think of their death they
are afraid to think of it only in connec-
ton with their spiritual welfare. and not
of the devastation in the household which
Will come because of their emigration
from it. 1t is meanly selfish for you tc
be SO absorbed in the heaven to which
you are going that you forget what is tc
become of your wife and children after
you are dead. You can go out of this
world without leaving dollar and yet die
happy if you could not provide for them;
you can trust them in the hands of the God
who owns all the harvests, and the herds,
and the flocks; but if you could pay the
premiums ON policy and neglect them,
it is a mean thing for you to go up to
heaven while they go into the poor
house. You, at death, move into man
sion, river front, and they move into two
rooms ON the fourth story of tenement
house in back street. When they are
out at the elbows and knees the thought
of your splendid robe in heaven viii not
keep them warm. The minister may
preach splendid sermon over your re-
mains, and the quartette may sing like
four angels in the organ loft, but your
death will be q swindla Won had the